The Treaty of Whampoa () was a commercial treaty between

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

of China and

Kingdom of France The Kingdom of France ( fro, Reaume de France; frm, Royaulme de France; french: link=yes, Royaume de France) is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the medieval and early modern period. ...

, which was signed by Qiying and Théodore de Lagrené on October 24, 1844 aboard the warship ''L’Archimède''. It is considered an

unequal treaty Unequal treaty is the name given by the Chinese to a series of treaties signed during the 19th and early 20th centuries, between China (mostly referring to the Qing dynasty) and various Western powers (specifically the British Empire, France, the ...

by many sources.

Terms

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

was to grant the same privileges to the

as to Britain in the

Treaty of Nanking The Treaty of Nanjing was the peace treaty which ended the First Opium War (1839–1842) between Great Britain and the Qing dynasty of China on 29 August 1842. It was the first of what the Chinese later termed the Unequal Treaties. In the ...

and subsequent treaties. The privileges included the opening of five harbours to French merchants, extraterritorial privileges French citizens in China, a fixed tariff on Sino-French trade and the right of France to station consuls in China.

Toleration of Christianity

Although French Prime Minister

François Guizot François Pierre Guillaume Guizot (; 4 October 1787 – 12 September 1874) was a French historian, orator, and statesman. Guizot was a dominant figure in French politics prior to the Revolution of 1848. A conservative liberal who opposed the ...

had given Lagrené only a mandate to negotiate a commercial treaty with France, Lagrené decided that he wanted to enhance France's international prestige by securing a rescission of

Yongzheng Emperor The Yongzheng Emperor (13 December 1678 – 8 October 1735), also known by his temple name Emperor Shizong of Qing, born Yinzhen, was the fourth Emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the third Qing emperor to rule over China proper. He reigned from ...

's prohibition of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...

in China from 1724. France could thus become the

protectorate A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over most of its in ...

of Catholics in China, like France in the

Levant The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is ...

. After protracted negotiations with Qiying, most of which Lagrené entrusted to his interpreter

Joseph-Marie Callery Joseph-Gaëtan-Pierre-Maxime-Marie Callery or Giuseppe Gaetano Pietro Massimo Maria Calleri in Italian form (25 June 1810 – 8 June 1862) was an Italian-French Roman Catholic missionary who travelled into Southeast Asia where he studied Chinese an ...

, the Daoguang Emperor issued an edict in February 1846 that legalized the practice of Christianity in China.

References

*Cady, John Frank. ''The Roots of French Imperialism in Eastern Asia.'' Ithaca, N.Y.:

Cornell University Press The Cornell University Press is the university press of Cornell University; currently housed in Sage House, the former residence of Henry William Sage. It was first established in 1869, making it the first university publishing enterprise in ...

, 1967. *Grosse-Aschhoff, Angelus Francis J. ''The Negotiations between Ch'i-Ying and Lagrené, 1844-1846.'' St. Bonaventure, New York: Franciscan Institute, 1950. {{Authority control Whampoa 1844 in France 1844 in China 1844 treaties Whampoa

Terms

Toleration of Christianity

See also

References